In Industry it is not efficient or profitable to make everyday products by hand. On a CNC machine or 3D printers it is possible to make hundreds or even thousands of the same item in a day. First a design is drawn using design software, then it is processed by the computer and manufactured using the CNC machine or 3D printers.
3D printing has enabled different industries, from the healthcare to the automotive industry, to do things never before possible and bring products to the market much faster.
You can use the 3D printer as a mini-factory, manufacturing designs you’ve found or created in an eco-friendly plastic.
It’s easy to understand why you need a 3D printer when you know about the endless possibilities you’ll have once you start printing.
3D printing gives you the convenience of custom, at-home manufacturing. The ever-growing online catalogs of ready-to-print 3D designs and the increasingly user-friendly design programs makes it easier, and more important, than ever to incorporate 3D printing into your life.
Think of all the times you needed just one little thing, like paperclips, a ruler, over-the-door hooks, name card holders, doorstops, but the store had already closed. Or, think of the times you’ve ever needed something specific and couldn’t think of where to get it. Like specially-sized picture frames, drawer pulls, just one missing game piece. Or, all of the times you wanted to make something of your own, like personalized medals for your child’s soccer team, a family ornament for the holidays, a shelving unit that perfectly fits all of your treasures. 3D printer users can stop stressing, start printing, and in an hour or so, have what they need.
Whether you need a frame for your drone project, simply a door stopper or anything else in between, you can 3D print it. 3D printing is good for making your life easier with simple hacks and ideas. As of November 2016, there are estimated 2 million 3D print files in 3D printing repositories for you to download.
3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
While all 3D printers create objects using additive methods (the opposite of a CNC machine), different approaches exist to actually physically depositing the material. The most common methods are:
· Fused Deposition Modeling
· Selective Laser Sintering
· Powder Bed and Binder
· Stereo lithography
It all starts with making a virtual design of the object you want to create. This virtual design is for instance a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file. This CAD file is created using a 3D modeling application or with a 3D scanner (to copy an existing object). A 3D scanner can make a 3D digital copy of an object.
From 3D model to 3D Printer
You will have to prepare a 3D model before it is ready to be 3D printed. This is what they call slicing. Slicing is dividing a 3D model into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers and needs to be done with software. Sometimes a 3D model can be sliced from within a 3D modeling software application. It is also possible that you are forced to use a certain slicing tool for a certain 3D printer. When the 3D model is sliced, you are ready to feed it to your 3D printer. This can be done via USB, SD or Wi-Fi. It really depends on what brand and type 3D Printer you have. When a file is uploaded in a 3D printer, the object is ready to be 3D printed layer by layer. The 3D printer reads every slice (2D image) and creates a three dimensional object.
In our first project we have built a CNC machine. CNC machining is a process used in the manufacturing sector that involves the use of computers to control machine tools. Tools that can be controlled in this manner include lathes, mills, routers and grinders. What we did in our first project is to built a printing CNC machine that draw any tow-dimensional form or text, that exists on the computer, on an external paper, and we had used the Arduino Uno as the control unit.
What we will do in our second project is to develop the first project by transferring printing from two-dimensional to three-dimensional through building the so-called 3D printer, and we will use the Arduino AtMega2560 as the control unit.
The 3D printer that we will build, works on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) method,which is the most common technology used in desktop 3D printers. Thermoplastic material is heated and extruded through a nozzle. The nozzle deposits the molten material layer by layer onto a build platform. Each layer sticks to the one beneath it.
Applications include rapid prototyping, architectural scale models & maquettes, healthcare (3D printed prosthetics and 3D printing with human tissue) and entertainment (e.g. film props).
Other examples of 3D printing would include reconstructing fossils in paleontology, replicating ancient artifacts in archaeology, reconstructing bones and body parts in forensic pathology and reconstructing heavily damaged evidence acquired from crime scene investigations.
3D printing can be used to prototype, create replacement parts, and is even versatile enough to print prostheses and medical implants. It will have a growing impact on our world, as more and more people gain access to these amazing machines.